Amazing Race 21 – Episode 5 – Bamboo In The Face Is Always Funny

First, the lateness of this column is due to one thing and one thing only. Sandy. Granted, I am often late with things anyway, but this time…well…I’ve been very distracted. I am copying a piece of my Survivor article here now – While we poke fun and tease in columns such as this, we have to always remember that they are all real people, not scripted characters. In a related note, this column went up a couple of days late – not an uncommon occurrence for me with my other columns, but not often for Survivor. I am a Maryland resident, but I will always be a New Yorker at heart and this week has certainly struck close to home. Literally, figuratively and emotionally. If you have the ability to do so – please show some love to New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and any of the other states that faced damages from North Carolina all the way up the coast to New England. And maybe, just maybe, when the last body is found, the last neighborhood given power, and the rebuild begins in earnest, maybe we can have a real grown-up national discussion about climate change.

The second thing is to reiterate that the personalities we see are show personalities. They may be a reflection of the people in real life – character sometimes shows or vanishes in crisis situations – but they are just edited snippets of real people. I ripped the Blondes a new one a couple of weeks ago in this column. Brittany did respond to me via Twitter – somewhat sarcastically – but she took the time to comment on some stranger’s insults to her. She could have gone a totally different direction.

In addition, the Twins and Apprentice have also responded to me via Twitter – both have been very good-natured. Of course, I have defended Apprentice, and so it isn’t really a giant leap to be nice back. The Twins have taken all of the ribbing with very good-natured. They may be crazy and annoying to watch, but they know they are watching a cartoon version of themselves on screen. Self-awareness goes a long way in life – and it is really important on reality shows.

Anyway, at this point there is no real need to hide any spoilers. This was a non-elimination leg and the Goats managed to survive as a result. They had an especially lackluster leg and got very, very lucky this didn’t result in their ouster.